Faith and spirituality shape how many clients understand illness, suffering, and healing. The Department of Psychology at Loma Linda University offers a Psychology of Religion/Spirituality minor that prepares doctoral students to engage these dimensions of their clients' lives with sensitivity, depth, and clinical skill.
The minor is open to students across all four specializations in the department—Child and Adolescent Clinical Psychology, Clinical Neuropsychology, Health Psychology and Integrated Care, and Clinical Generalist—offering an additional layer of professional preparation regardless of your clinical focus.
After completing the minor, students are equipped to tailor case conceptualizations and treatment approaches to clients from diverse religious and spiritual backgrounds, and to recognize and respond thoughtfully to clients' spiritual struggles and questions.
Curriculum
The minor draws on coursework from both the Department of Psychology and the School of Religion, integrating empirical and theological perspectives. The psychology foundation course examines religion, spirituality, and faith through the lens of psychological science, with attention given to all five major world religions as well as atheism. Students then select additional courses from the School of Religion in areas including comparative religion, theology of suffering, and the intersection of religion and the social sciences. A series of psychology seminars rounds out the minor with focused attention to clinical and theoretical issues of integration between spirituality and psychology.
Download the Psychology of Religion/Spirituality Minor Curriculum (PDF)
For more information, contact the Department of Psychology at 909-558-8577 or visit the Specializations and Minor page.